Last night, Cisco received the Corporate Service Award at the 12th-annual Friends of National Service Awards in Washington, DC. The event was hosted by the National Conference on Citizenship and Voices for National Service. Pat Finn, senior vice president for public sector, accepted the award on behalf of Cisco.

Cisco has been a strong supporter of the concept of national service for more than a decade. For instance, we provide cash and product grants to organizations like City Year and Teach for America, which place college graduates in underserved schools for one or two years. “National service is a win-win for our society,” said Tae Yoo, Senior Vice President for Corporate Affairs of Cisco. “In communities across the country, national service programs benefit both the individuals served and the individuals who step forward to serve. Cisco is proud to be a part of the national service movement, and looks forward to expanding service opportunities in America.”

Young people who participate in “national service” support communities and help people improve their lives while developing skills that prepare them to succeed in the workforce.

This week, Cisco Corporate Social Responsibility will follow Deborah Huyler and Andrew Torres, two Cisco Networking Academy Dream Team students, as they set up wireless access points, provide network troubleshooting, and soak in the sights and sounds of NBA All-Star 2015. They’ll be sharing their stories from Madison Square Garden, the Barclays Center, and other event venues through journal entries, photo slideshows, and videos! Read Andrew’s first post below:

Hi everybody, my name is Andrew Torres. I’m currently enrolled in Cisco Networking Academy courses at SUNY Adirondack in upstate New York with hopes of earning my Cisco CCNA certification in routing and switching within the next few months.

About three weeks ago, my instructor, Karen Woodard, approached me with the opportunity to work with Cisco and the NBA’s IT team to help prepare and set up the venues in New York City for NBA All-Star 2015. It’s an event so large that millions of people from around the world tune in to watch some of the league’s best basketball players take the court.

This week, Cisco Corporate Social Responsibility will follow Deborah Huyler and Andrew Torres, two Cisco Networking Academy Dream Team students, as they set up wireless access points, provide network troubleshooting, and soak in the sights and sounds of NBA All-Star 2015. They’ll be sharing their stories from Madison Square Garden, the Barclays Center, and other event venues through journal entries, photo slideshows, and videos! Read Deborah’s first blog post below:

Hi, everyone! My name is Deborah Huyler, and I am a Cisco Networking Academy student from Westchester Community College in Valhalla, New York.

I was selected to attend NBA All-Star 2015 as a member of the Dream Team. I will be assisting the NBA’s IT team in setting up the different networks around New York City during the week of the All-Star Game. I will be working at Madison Square Garden, the Barclays Center, the Sheraton Hotel, and a few other venues. We will set up access points, run cables, and whatever else may be needed to make sure the All-Star network is live!

As part of a Cisco Networking Academy Dream Team, they’ll have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to gain hands-on experience and showcase their technical knowledge in front of potential employers.

Starting this Monday, we’ll follow Deborah Huyler and Andrew Torres, two of the Dream Team students, as they set up wireless access points, provide network troubleshooting, and soak in the sights and sounds of NBA All-Star 2015 throughout the week. They’ll be sharing their stories from Madison Square Garden the Barclays Center, and other event venues through journal entries, photo slideshows, and videos!

The Cisco Networking Academy Dream Team visited the NBA offices earlier this week

At Cisco India, we focus on addressing social issues where we believe we can have significant and lasting impact by applying our unique expertise to those issues.

For example, after floods devastated rural communities in Northern Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in October 2009, Cisco committed US$10 million in cash, services, solutions and equipment to support rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts in the Raichur district of Karnataka.

We called it Project Samudaya and our goal was to create a modern, rural community by giving it access to urban amenities such as quality healthcare and education. We deployed the Cisco Education Enabled Delivery (CEED) platform in Raichur to deliver remote education, and the Cisco HealthPresence solution to improve access to medical treatment and access to specialist consultants. Thousands of patients have benefited.

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